Teesside Airport Staff Launch Huge Drive to Boost Awareness With Travel Agents

Workers at Teesside Airport are visiting more than 120 travel agents in a huge push to highlight its offering for the 2023 summer season.

Ahead of January – the peak season for people booking their summer holidays – 11 members of staff have begun dropping in on agents spanning the whole of the North East, from Newcastle to Bridlington.

While there, they underlined the airport’s routes for next year, including its new destination of Antalya in Turkey, and dropped off goody bags with further details of the airport’s offer.

While Teesside has a dedicated engagement team, this saw a mammoth effort involving staff right across the airport – from directors to people working in finance and air traffic control – to get the message out.

The visits came off the back of the airport’s biggest summer in almost a decade this year, which has seen passenger numbers on holiday flights more than 90% loaded. Figures showed that it was also one of the only airports in the North to have passenger numbers higher than pre-pandemic levels, serving 23,358 in August 2022 versus 12,284 in August 2019.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Local people know about, and love, their airport – this was clear to see in this summer’s hugely successful holiday season.

“Now we need to get the message out far and wide, to those who maybe don’t know about our huge terminal transformation which has made it smoother, quicker and more convenient than ever to fly from Teesside.

“There are more than five million people living within a 90-minute drive to our airport and shining a spotlight on our airport starts with our regional travel agents. With these efforts and their backing, I’ve no doubt we’ll see an even bigger and better 2023.”

Phil Forster, Managing Director at Teesside International Airport said: “We’ve been working hard at every level to increase engagement with our airport, from taking part in international conferences such as Routes World to hosting travel agents at the airport, letting them see first-hand how we’ve changed.

“This is the first time we’ve taken our story to their doorsteps in a massive push involving a wide range of airport staff. It’s important agents don’t just hear the same old sales pitch and getting everyone who is passionate about Teesside International to engage is a great way of showing the true face of the airport – a friendly, welcoming, stress-free start to anyone’s trip.”

TUI’s flights to Antalya in Turkey are on sale now alongside its flights to Palma. Palma flies every Tuesday from 9 May until 24 October, and Antalya flies every Thursday from 25 May until 21 September. It will also introduce a second route, to Dalaman in Turkey, from May 2024.

Ryanair’s summer 2023 flights to Alicante, Corfu, Faro and Palma, along with this winter flights to Alicante, are on sale now.

Balkan Holidays is also offering trips to the sunny shores of Bulgaria, initially every Sunday from 21 May until 17 September, which will be joined by a second Thursday flight from 22 June until 7 September.

If passengers are looking for somewhere further afield, KLM’s twice-daily service to Amsterdam Schiphol connects with more than 160 onward destinations worldwide. Closer to home, Loganair has you covered with the popular city break destinations of Aberdeen, Belfast and Dublin.